Author: Yolanda Carpenter

Nex Benedict: Trans activists, WH seize on 'non-binary' teen's death as full report awaited

The death of a nonbinary student one day after a fight inside an Oklahoma high school bathroom has led to national outcry and White House condemnation.

Owasso police say the investigation into 16-year-old Nex Benedict’s death on February 8 is ongoing, with the state medical examiner’s office ruling it a suicide. Family members have said that their child was a victim of bullying at the school because Nex identified as nonbinary, neither male nor female. A complete report on Benedict’s death is scheduled to be released on March 27. 

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre addressed the preliminary autopsy report from the podium at Friday’s press briefing, calling Benedict’s death “devastating.” 

“As the president said yesterday, every young person deserves to have the fundamental right and freedom to be who they are and feel safe and supported at school and in their communities,” Jean-Pierre said. “Bullying is completely unacceptable, and it is on all of us to take reports of bullying seriously.” 

RESEARCHERS ARGUE ‘RAPID ONSET GENDER DYSPHORIA’ DOES EXIST, DESPITE NARRATIVE AGAINST IT

This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

The Benedict family released a statement through an attorney emphasizing that though Nex’s death was ruled a suicide, there are “other pertinent portions of the report” that should not be “overshadowed by the ‘classification’ of Nex’s death.” 

“Rather than allow incomplete accounts to take hold and spread any further, the Benedicts feel compelled to provide a summary of those findings which have not yet been released by the Medical Examiner’s office, particularly those that contradict allegations of the assault on Nex being insignificant,” the family attorney said. 

Details released by the family include that the teen suffered non-lethal head and neck trauma, including contusions, lacerations and abrasions. An Abraded contusion on Nex’s chest was consistent with having occurred during CPR, according to the portion of the full medical examiner’s report released by the family. 

“The Benedicts continue to call on our schools, administrators, lawmakers, and communities to come together to prevent any other family from having to suffer through the heartache now borne by Nex’s loved ones,” the attorney said. “Reforms creating school environments that are built upon the pillars of respect, inclusion and grace, and aim to eliminate bullying and hate, are the types of change that all involved should be able to rally behind.” 

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LGBTQ+ advocates have blamed Nex’s death on gender identity-based bullying and harassment, as well as “rhetoric and policies” advanced by Republicans in Oklahoma — such as bills that prohibit children from receiving cross-sex hormone therapy or sex-reassignment surgery. They have called for the resignation of Ryan Walters, Oklahoma’s superintendent of public instruction, who has said there are only two genders — male and female — and that Oklahoma schools would not allow students to use preferred names or pronouns that differ from their birth sex. 

“We want to be clear, whether Nex died as a direct result of injuries sustained in the brutal hate-motivated attack at school or not, Nex’s death is a result of being the target of physical and emotional harm because of who Nex was,” Freedom Oklahoma, the state’s largest LGBTQ+ advocacy group, said in a February statement reacting to Benedict’s death.

“This harm is absolutely related to the rhetoric and policies that are commonplace at the Oklahoma Legislature, the State Department of Education, and the Governor’s office, with regard to dehumanizing 2STGNC+ people,” the group said.

Walters has said Benedict’s tragic death has been exploited by the left for political purposes. 

“I think it’s terrible that we’ve had some radical leftists who decided to run with a political agenda and try to weave a narrative that hasn’t been true,” he told the New York Times in an interview in February. “You’ve taken a tragedy, and you’ve had some folks try to exploit it for political gain.”

“We’ve been told [Benedict’s] death wasn’t directly related to the fight at school,” he added. 

STUDENT DETAILS ‘TERRIBLE’ BULLYING AT SCHOOL WHERE CLASSMATE COMMITTED SUICIDE: ‘I WAS TERRIFIED’

The Oklahoma Medical Examiner’s report said the teen died from a combined overdose of Prozac and Benadryl. The fight in the school bathroom happened on the previous day. 

In video footage from the hospital on the day of the altercation, February 7, Nex tells a police officer that the teen and a friend group were the subject of ridicule over the way they dressed. Benedict, who preferred they/them pronouns, claims that in the bathroom the students said “something like: Why do they laugh like that?” referring to Nex and friends.

“And so I went up there and I poured water on them, and then all three of them came at me,” the teen tells the officer from a hospital bed.

“They came at me. They grabbed on my hair. I grabbed onto them. I threw one of them into a paper towel dispenser, and then they got my legs out from under me and got me on the ground,” the teen says in the video, according to the Associated Press. 

The students allegedly beat the teen to the point of blacking out. 

The next day, paramedics responded to a 911 call at the Benedict family’s house and performed CPR on an unresponsive Nex before rushing her to the hospital, where the teen later died.

On Thursday, the day after Nex’s death was ruled a suicide, the White House released a statement saying that President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden were “heartbroken” by the loss. 

“Every young person deserves to have the fundamental right and freedom to be who they are, and feel safe and supported at school and in their communities. Nex Benedict, a kid who just wanted to be accepted, should still be here with us today,” Biden said. 

The president called on the nation to stand in solidarity with nonbinary and transgender people and “recommit to our work to end discrimination and address the suicide crisis impacting too many nonbinary and transgender children.”

“Bullying is hurtful and cruel, and no one should face the bullying that Nex did. Parents and schools must take reports of bullying seriously,” Biden said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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'I think he will be the first overall pick': How Will Levis is thriving at Kentucky, and what's next

After going from a run-first backup QB at Penn State to leader of No. 7 Kentucky, Levis’ next giant leap could be as a top pick in the NFL draft.

The post 'I think he will be the first overall pick': How Will Levis is thriving at Kentucky, and what's next appeared first on Buy It At A Bargain – Deals And Reviews.

Piastri rejects Alpine, eyes future with McLaren

Australian driver Oscar Piastri has dropped a bombshell that he will not race for Alpine in Formula One next season, just one hour after the team said he would replace Aston Martin-bound Fernando Alonso in 2023. The post Piastri rejects Alpine, eyes future with McLaren appeared first on Buy It At A Bargain – Deals … Continue reading Piastri rejects Alpine, eyes future with McLaren

It’s Not Worth It: Here’s What 6 Organizations Have to Say About Buying Business Tradelines for Sale

You probably know why you need tradelines on your business credit reports. However, there is a right way and a wrong way to get them there. Adding tradelines is important, but you should definitely avoid business tradelines for sale. Buying tradelines can hurt more than it helps. 

Buying Business Tradelines for Sale Isn’t The Shortcut it May Seem

Honestly, there are no shortcuts in life or business. Think about it. Inevitably when you try to cut corners to make things go faster, you miss something important. More times than not, it ends up costing more time and money than it would have if you had just done it the right way to begin with. This is as true about building business credit as it is anything else. 

Still, some people try shortcuts anyway. The top three “shortcuts” to building business credit are:

For many, buying tradelines seems like the easiest and least risky shortcut. However, these 6 organizations agree, it’s just not worth it. 

#1 Federal Reserve

“The potential distortions in credit scores that piggybacking credit may introduce suggest that a reconsideration of existing regulations, industry practices, or both may be warranted to preserve the predictiveness of credit scoring models.”

Credit Where None is Due? Authorized User Account Status and “Piggybacking Credit”, Robert B. Avery, Kenneth P. Brevoort, Glenn B. Canner (Federal Reserve Board, March 5, 2010) 

# 2 Dun & Bradstreet

According to a Former D&B Employee:

“Opening a business credit account with any company is free. If you are paying for it, you are being ripped off. When the company who sold that tradeline to you gets taken down, all of their clients will get punished, too, with a mound of debt and a cursed credit file that will keep you from getting more credit to be able to pay it off.”

Joy Greenwood, 10 Common Trade-Line Mistakes, June 5, 2015

# 3 The FBI

When commenting on a 2013 bust of a fraud ring, “A second kind of tradeline is the “authorized user” tradeline, where a credit card holder adds another, so-called “authorized user,” to a credit card account. This raises the credit score of the authorized user, who inherits some of the primary user’s credit history.

Some defendants created and sold fake lines of credit for false identities made up by other defendants. These fraudulent primary tradelines were then used to increase the credit limits on fraud cards, so that the defendants could reap even larger profits. Defendants used the authorized user tradelines to create new identities.”

#4  FICO

FICO’s opinion on piggybacking is obvious here: “A … shadier version of piggybacking has been promoted by some CROs who offer to “rent” to their credit-challenged customers the trade lines of established account holders, in an effort to boost their customers’ credit profiles and scores.”

#5 Equifax

Equifax: “… authorized user abuse occurs when low-risk primary card owners “rent” their tradelines with extensive credit histories, high credit limits and solid repayment profiles to others – most times, knowingly, to fraudsters.”

#6 Experian

Experian: “Buying tradelines may be viewed as deceptive by lenders and credit reporting agencies, and could even put you in danger of committing bank fraud.

Credit scores are designed to help lenders determine a borrower’s creditworthiness, and most use your credit scores and credit reports to determine whether to approve a credit application and what terms you qualify for.

If you pay money to improve your credit scores without doing any of the work or even getting a card to use, you could be falsely representing your creditworthiness to potential lenders.”

Buying Business Tradelines for Sale

So, what are business trade lines, and how does buying business tradelines for sale work? Legit business trade lines are lines of credit extended to businesses by vendors. A business gets goods or services and agrees to pay for them at a later date. Tradelines are often established between a business and a vendor, rather than a line of credit offered by a bank. They can help businesses build credit by rapidly building positive credit experiences. 

There are many companies online which promise to sell ‘seasoned’ tradelines. If your company has poor or little credit, you can pay to have your business piggyback on the account of someone with well established, strong credit. This allows new business owners to seem more creditworthy than they really are. Sounds fishy right? 

How Does Piggybacking a Tradeline Work?

A third party uses a creditworthy borrower’s accounts to improve their own credit. The borrower adds the third party as a user of his lines of credit. But, he or she does not actually provide the third party with credit cards or account numbers. The third party has no way to actually make charges against the account. As a result, that third party user never actually uses the credit. 

The benefit to the third party is an improved credit rating. It appears they already have higher limit revolving accounts. In theory, showing you already have credit makes you more creditworthy for higher limit accounts. Some companies claim to be able to secure $100,000 – 250,000 credit lines once these accounts are reporting.  Obviously, this buying of business tradelines for sale is dishonest.

A company offering the piggybacking service maintains a network of creditworthy ‘card holders’ or ‘vendors.’ They will add strangers to their accounts as users for a fee. A third party, looking to increase their credit score, contacts the company. Then, the company selects one of the business  tradelines for sale to the client, and charges the client a fee per account. 

It Works for Personal Credit, so What’s the Problem?

 Now, it’s important to note that personal credit works differently than business credit in this area, and many other areas for that matter. 

Consumer trades such as this are legitimate. A person with poor credit can use this strategy without issue. So, if you know someone with great credit, it is perfectly fine to ask if you can become an authorized user on their card. You never need to use the card, and it can still help to raise your personal credit scores.

But, in the business credit realm, things are much different. Consider what the following agencies have to say. 

Lenders Know All About Business Tradelines for Sale 

Lenders and CRAs know all the unethical methods out there. They know what to look for, and they are looking.  For example, when they see a change in company ownership, or a new authorized user on a card, they dig deeper.  Furthermore, sooner or later D&B will figure out you are using business tradelines for sale. If a tradeline sales company inquires into your credit report, D & B finds out.

Any time you buy a tradeline, the seller checks your credit. Of course they do, because they want to be sure they get paid. When this happens, here is what happens next:

  • D&B shuts down tradeline(s) 
  • They red flag your entire profile, including legit trades alongside the illegitimate ones
  • You lose whatever time you think you gained by using business tradelines for sale
  • Plus, you’re out the cost of the tradelines

In addition, when a company has a reputation of being a tradeline seller, that company will be flagged as such. Any new inquiries by that flagged tradeline seller harms buyers, including older tradeline sales. There is no Statute of Limitations on this.  That means, if you bought tradelines 50 years ago, D&B may still find out and it can still harm you. 

Buying Business Tradelines for Sale is Not Worth It

Buying tradelines involves buying tradelines that belong to others and putting them on your credit report. While not technically illegal, it is dishonest.  If a lender figures out you are doing it, you could be black balled.  It isn’t worth it.

Still, adding tradelines to your business credit report is vital. You just have to do it the right way. Our Business Finance Suite helps you do just that. It walks you through the process step-by-step, so you get your own tradelines that you can actually use.  Find out more today by getting a free Business Finance Assessment with a Credit Suite specialist. 

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